Today was hot! Several areas in the lower mainland have set new record temperatures according to the Candian Weather Office. Portia does not do hot, I have come to realize, which makes me wonder how babies from other climates where it is routinely hot, and there is little air-conditioning do? We have just moved from our small one bedroom 700 square foot apartment into a much larger 1200 square foot basement suite, and have been spending the last couple of days cleaning the place up and doing some final painting and minor renovations for the new tennant in our place.
According to the thermostat on the wall in our apartment, it has been consistently around 30C indoors. Every time I bring Portia in there, it takes all of 20 minutes and she is screaming at the top of her lungs, and I can tell she is super hot, she is just dripping wet, and really uncomfortable. As soon as I put her in her car seat and start my car, and the air-conditioner kicks in (my car has the worlds most powerful air-conditioner, a real plus in this weather), she falls asleep almost instantly. I was very concerned the first time I noticed just how hot and sweaty she became in such a short time, I was concerned that she could be getting de-hydrated, then I noticed that she was feeding every 20 minutes or less, and her diapers were just as wet as always. This made me realize that she had naturally adjusted her milk intake to cope with the fluid she was losing in the hot weather.
That said, I do think monitoring a babies temperature when she has to be in a hot weather environment is a very good thing, as dehydration can be very dangerous, just as it can for adults. Signs to watch for include very few wet diapers, dry mouth, a loss of appetite for milk and of course irritability. You know your baby, so lookout for changes that could signify that she is not coping well, systemically with the hot weather.
Right now, the little one is fast asleep in our air conditioned suite, and I think very releived to be out of the summer heat.